Apparatus for erecting a multi-storied building



E. WALLI A ril 20, 1965 APPARATUS FOR ERECTING A MULTISTORIED BUILDINGFiled May 16, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ERNST WELL.

ATTOR NE VS APPARATUS FOR ERECTING A MULTISTORIED BUILDING Filed May16,1961

E. W A'LLI A ril 20, 1965 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.4.

/ N VEN TOR ERNST wA'LL/ A T'TOR NE Y5 April 20, 1965 E. wALu 3,179,374

APPARATUS FOR ERECTING A MULTISTORIED BUILDING Filed May 16, 1961 7Sheets-Sheet a Fig. 6

Fig. 8

w nunnn'unrn INVENTOR ERNST WA'LL/ ATTORNEYS E. WALL] APPARATUS FORERECTING A MULTISTORIED BUILDING Filed May 16, 1961' '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Il J1 FHHHHHH Lirlilll iii],

m o mm E B a an m a m 2. mm o m R Q 9m ii-.1 V a ATTORNEYS A ril :20,1965 E. WALL] 3,179,374

APPARATUS FOR EREUPIING A MULTISTORIED BUILDING Filed May 16. 1961 7Sheets-Sheet 5 Fig. 112 Fig.1?

IN vENTo/z ERNST wgiw ATTORNEYS E. WALLI April 20, 1965 APPARATUS FORERECTING A MULTISTORIED BUILDING Filed May 16, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 7INVENTOR ERNST WELL! 6 7n ATTDRNE r5 wit United States Patent 3,179,374APPATUS FOR ERECTING A MULTI- STORIED BUILDING Ernst Waili, Alpenstrasse3, Arbon, Thurgau, Switzerland Filed May 16, 1961, Ser. No. 110,507Claims priority, application Switzerland, May 17, 19st), 5,674/60 13Claims. (Cl. 254-109) The present invention relates to an apparatus forerecting a multistoried building by raising a plurality of floor units,which have been prefabricated on the building-site upon a support insuperposed arrangem nt, to predetermined story levels by means oflifting and supporting tubes, and by securing the floor units, afterhaving been raised into their corresponding story positions, onsupporting pillars. When buildings having only a few stories have to beerected, then the floor or ceiling slabs made of concrete, for instancewith the floor of the basement serving as support, generally may beeasily raised as a unitary stack to the floor level of thefirst story(ceiling of the basement). In case of buildings having four stories andmore, however, the weight of the stack of ceiling slabs increases tosuch an extent that it is no longer possible to raise all the floor andceiling elements as a unit.

It is an object of theinvention to overcome the mentioned diiiicultiesand to provide an improved arrangement for erecting a n'iultistoriedbuilding by successively raising URES 12 and stack portions ofsuperposed floor units in a step by step movement to the required floorlevel.

It is also an object of the invention to provide improved means forraising the different floor units in relatively simple and efiicientmanner to the building levels.

Other objects and characteristic features of the invention will be morereadily understood from the following detailed description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the building site of a URE 2, of variousoperating phases of the building erec tion, r

FIGURE 10 shows, at reduced scale and diagrammatically, all operatingphases successively occurring at one pillar during the raising operationof the floors or ceilings of a building having six floors,

FIGURE 11 shows in vertical section the manner of supporting a floorslab on a pillar,

FIGURES l2 and 13 are vertical sections along a pillar of the operatingphases according to FIGURES 5 and9, respectively, drawn to a largerscale,

FIGURE 14 is a vertical section through a modification of thearrangement shown in FIGURES l2 and 13,

FIGURE 15 is a vertical section through a ratchet device supported on atube and having suspended thereon a floor, drawn to a larger scale,

FIGURE 16 is a transverse section on the line XVI XVI of FIGURE 15,

FIGURE l7'showsthe first operating phases of a modi-' fication of thelifting method illustratedin FIGURE 10.

In erecting a building comprising six fioors, a preferred manner ofcarrying out the erection according to the invention is as follows:

After the usual preparation of the building site, the foundations 1provided for the supporting pillars 2 formed by I-beams are made withconcrete in the desired spacings gag-e a cam 11 of the tubes 9, 1%.

arrests Patented Apr. 2t), 1965 ice of the pillars, The foundations 1are provided with recesses 1a which are larger than the size requiredfor inserting the pillars 2. On top of these foundations 1 the basementfloor 3 is subsequently made of concrete, a rectangular opening 3a beingformed in the floor 3 of the basement around thepillars 2 (FIGURES 1,2). Subsequently six concrete floors 5a, 5b, 5c, 5e, 5e and 5 are castwith suitable separating layers 4 (FIGURE 3), made e .g. of syntheticmaterial, paper, or the like, interposed between the superposed floors.At the same time, carrying collars 6, surrounding the pillars and inalignment with each other, are provided for each floor. These carryingcollars 6 are formed each with a central opening 7 (FIG. 11) for thepassage of the pillar 2 and, on both sides of this opening 7 with anadditional opening 3 for the passage of supporting and lifting tubes 9and it (see FIG- The tubes 9 and It) in the example shown are composedeach of three tube sections, which fact facilitates their handling. Thetubes are provided with two diametrically opposite rows of plug-shapedcams 11 equidistantly spaced over the length of the tubes. The earns 11form part of a ratchet device provided for each tube 9, 19. Each ratchetdevice 12 comprises a box 13 in which two groups of three superposedpawls 15 are pivotally supported onjournal pins 14. Each pawl 15' isprovided with a weighted lever 16 projecting from the box 13. Theselevers have the tendency "of pivoting the corresponding pawls into aposition in which they en- The ratchet box can be axially withdrawnupwardly from the tube with the pawls kept out of engagement. As evidentfrom FIG- URE 15, the mutual spacings of the three superposed pawls 15are smaller than the mutual spacing of the cams 11. This enables them toraise the ratchet device, which engages a pair or" cams 11 only by onepair of pawls at a time, through a considerably smaller distance thanthat provided by two successive cams 11, for engagement of another pairof pawls with the next pair of cams. Preferably, the arrangement is madeso that the cam spacing does not represent an integral multiple of thepawl spacing.

The doors 5a5f to be raised can be either supported directly upon theratchet devices 12 or suspended from said ratchet devices. For the lastmentioned purpose (FIGURE 15) each ratchet box 13 is provided with fourapertures 12a to be traversed by screw-threaded bolts 17. These bolts 17also pass through corresponding apertures 6a provided in the carryingcollar 6 of the corresponding fioor (51 in FIGURE 15) to be suspended.The threaded portion of the bolts 17 extends upwardly from the ratchetbox 13 and is supported on the box by means of screw nuts 19 by theintermediary of a spacer sleeve 18 (as indicated in FIGURE 15). The saidapertures 6a in the carrying collar 6 have a rectangular cross sectionadapted to the rectangular head 17a of the bolts, so that the head canpass through these apertures, but when the bolt is turned through itcannot be upwardly withdrawn through the aperture. It is understood thatthe heads of the bolts 17 support the carrying collar of the lowermostceiling or floor of the stack to be suspended.

While the tubes 9 passing through the carrying collars 6 of the stackedceilings rest directly upon the foundations 1, the lifting tubes 19 aresupported upon hydraulic ram presses 26 which are inserted in thecorrespondingly enlarged recess 1a provided for the pillars 2. In theconstruction shown in FIGURES 12 and 13 the presses 26 are arranged withthe rams 26a situated at the top, so that y the lifting tubes 16) arepositioned directly on said ram. For the supply of pressure oil to thepresses 24 the latter are provided with a vertical feed pipe 21 which iscomposed of several pipe sections and upwardly extended within theprofiled recess of the I-pillar 2, and which is provided with upperconnecting means (FIGURE 12) and a lower connecting means (FIGURE 13)for a pressure hose 22. The pressure hoses lead to a common motor-drivenpump (not shown) which can be controlled by a suitable control apparatusarranged outside of the ground plan of the building. By means of thefeed pipe 21 serving as a handle, the press 21), after the concretefloors have been moulded, can be inserted within the profiled recess ofthe pillar 2 and lowered into its operating position. As shown in FIGURE14, it is also possible to use the press 20 with the ram 213 b situatedat the bottom end. In this case, the press is inserted in a protectivetube 23 which is embedded in concrete within the foundation ii andprojects with its upper portion beyond said tube. In the operating phaseaccording to FIGURE 14, the pressure oil hose 24 passes upwardly throughthe lifting tube 19 supported by the press body, while in the operatingphase according to FIGURE 13 the hose can be laterally connected to theprojecting portion of the press, as this is indicated by dash-and-dotlines in FIGURE 14. g

The raising of the six superposed concrete floors 5a5f (FIGURE 4) iseffected as follows:

After the presses 20 and the supporting and lifting tubes 9 and 1th havebeen inserted, the ratchet devices 12 are placed from above upon thesetubes. The three upper are raised by their predetermined strokeamounting to only a few centimeters. The lifting tubes 10, together withthe ratchet devices 12 which are latched to these lifting tubes andcarry the said stack of floors, are upwardly forced by the amount of thestroke of the ram. Then the press rams are lowered again to the startingposition. Due to gravity, the lifting tubes are simultaneously loweredto their starting position. As will be evident from FIGURE 15, theratchet devices 12 easily per mit such lowering operation of the liftingtubes 16, since the ratchet pawls 15 will become elfective only when thelifting tube moves upwardly, orwhen the ratchet device is urgeddownwardly under its load and the lifting tube remains stationary.Accordingly, the downwardly moving lifting tubes 16 release the ratchetdevices 12; during this operation the earns 11 of the supporting tubes9, which remain stationary and cooperate with their ratchet device,prevent the ratchet devices 12 loaded by the stack of floors 5f, 52 and5d from lowering, as the pair of ratchet pawls 15 exhibiting thesmallest spacing above the next lower pair of cams 11 engages these camsand thus temporarily supports the entire raised stack of floors on thesupporting tubes 9. Subsequently, the lifting tubes 19 are again raisedby the'next stroke of the ram of the presses 2d. Then the pair of pawls15 of the ratchet devices 12, which is spaced apart the least from thenext lower cam pair 11 of the lifting tubes, comes into engagement withthe said pair of cams, so that the stack of floors 5 5e and 5d togetherwith the ratchet devices 12 and the lifting tubes 10 are raised by thestroke of the press. This alternate raising of the floor stack, loweringof the lifting tubes with temporarily supporting the stack on thesupporting tubes and renewed raising of the stack is continued so longuntil the stack 5 5e and 5d occupies the position (FIGURE 6)corresponding to the final height of the second floor. In this positionthe raised stack of floors 5 5e and 5a. is temporarily supported on thepillars 2 by securing latches 25 to the pillars 2 by means of bolts 26traversing the flanges of the pillars below the lowermost floor 5d ofthis stack (FIGURE 11). -After the foltwo upper sections of the liftingand supporting tubes are disconnected and raised from the lower tubesections to such an extent that the ratchet devices 12 can be placedagain upon the respective lower tube sections between the two floorstacks, whereupon the tube sections are connected together again.Subsequently, the ratchet devices 12 are connected to the floors 5a, 5band 5c of the stack remaining 'on the floor 3 by means of the bolts 17in the manner previously described (FIGURE 7), whereupon this stack israised to the level of the first floor (FIGURE 8) by stepwise. raisingthe lifting tubes 16), temporarily supporting the stack on thesupporting tubes 9, while simultaneously lowering the lifting tubes andby raising the lifting tubes once more. This lower stack is then securedto the pillars 2 by means of the latches 25 and bolts 26 shown in FIGURE11; since the lowermost floor 5a is now located in its final positionand thus the support of this fioor on the pillars can. finally takeplace, the latches 25 are welded to the carrying collars 6 of this floor5a. The oil hoses 22 are then removed from the upper connecting pointsof the tubes 21 and connected again to the lowermost portion of thetubes 21; the protruding portions of the tubes 21 may now be removed(FIGURE 13). For reasons of safety, pump and control apparatus suitablyremain outside of the ground plan of the building. The ratchet devices12 are then released from the lower stack of floors and pushed upwardlyalong the tubes 9, 10 until they abut against the upper stack 5,, 5e, 5d(FIGURE 9). p In order to be able to raise these floors further, thetubes 9, It) must be extended, as will be easily seen from FIGURE 9. Forthis purpose these tubes are raised, e.g. by the length of one tubesection, whereupon auxiliary tube sections 9a and 10a are inserted atthe bottom end; these auxiliary tube sections are smooth-walled and donot have any cams. The connecting zones of the tube sections areadvantageously provided with suitable guide members, in order toincrease the resistance to buckling; in case of sufficiently sturdytubes, however, such guide members may be omitted. It has been foundsuitable to provide all pipe sections (also those of the tubes 9 and 10)with a length of about 2 to 2.5 meters.

From thesaid position of the elements (e in FIGURE 10), as describedabove, the upper stack 5 5e, 50! then is stepwise raised by anadditional story height into the position shown in FIGURE 10 at f andtemporarily supported by means of latches 25 and bolts 26 on the pillars2. Subsequently the ratchet devices 12 are disengaged and downwardlyslipped along their tubes to the lower stack and are connected there tothe two upper floors, 50 and 5]), by means of the bolts 17 (position gin FIGURE 10). These two floors 5c and 5b are then raised in a step bystep movement to the final level of the floor 5b of the second story inthe manner described (position h in FIGURE 10), and are supported thereon the pillars 2 bymeans of latches 25 and bolts 26. The latches 25 arethen firmly welded to carrying collars 6 of the floor 5b located in itsfinal position. Hereafter the ratchet devices 12 are released again andupwardly moved along their tubes until abutting against the upper floorstack 5 52, 5d (position i in FIGURE 10) and engaged once more. On theother hand, the supporting and lifting tubes 9, 10 are lifted by theheight of one tube section, while at the bottom end an additionalauxiliary tube section 9a or 10a is inserted. Then the upper stack offloors 5f, 5e, 5d is stepwise raised by a further story level (positionk in FIGURE 10) in the manner described, and secured to the pillars 2 bymeans of latches 25 and bolts 26. The latches 25 are then welded tothe'carrying colconnected to the upper floor c of this remaining stackby means of the bolts 17 (position 1 in FIGURE Thereafter this floor 5cis raised step by step to its final level (position In in FIGURE 10) inthe manner de-' scribed, and secured-to the pillars 2 by means oflatches and bolts 26; these latches 25 are then welded to the carryingcollars 6 of this floor 5c. supporting and lifting tubes 9, 10 areraised by a further length of one tube section, while below anadditional set of auxiliary tube sections 9a and 10a is inserted. Theratchet devices 12 are then removed from the tubes by temporarilypushing two tube sections apart from each other, and are again placedover the lifting and supporting tubes on the top of the floors 5 5e, 5d(position it in FIGURE 10). Now the two upper floors 5 and 5e aresecured to the ratchet devices 12 in the manner described Subsequently,the

leased from the ratchet devices 12 by loosening the screw nut 19according to FIGURE 15, or suitable other support elements, and loweredto such as extent that they can be hooked in again on the collar 6 ofthe lowermost ceiling 5a (FIGURE 17c). Subsequently, the lower stackportion 5a, Sb, 5c is raised to the level of the first story andthelowermost floor 5a is finally secured'to the pillars 2 (FIGURE 17d).Afterloosening the bolts 18 again and engaging them in the lowermostfloor 5d of the upper floor stack portion (FIGURE 17c), the latter israised above the height of the second story (FIGURE 17 and temporarilysupported on the pillars 2. The

" supply of pressure oil is effected in this case by means of by meansof the bolts 17 and subsequently raised step by step to one furtherstory level (position 0 in FIGURE 10). The two floors 5e and 5 are thensupported on the pillar 2 by means of latches 25 and bolts 26, saidlatches the lower connection provided on the side of the press. Thefurther raising of the floors to their final position takes place inanalogous manner, whereby it will be easily seen that owing to the longbolts 18 a change of the ratchet devices 12 from the upper side to thelower side of the stack portions, and vice versa, is no longer required;the ratchet devices 12, in this case, function to lift, or pull, thefloors 5.2-5 upwardly rather than push these floors upwardly to theirultimate positions.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for raising each floor of a stack of floors, each floorincluding openings therethrough, to a different 7 level for support on aplurality of longitudinal pillars,

the lifting operation is finished. After finally anchoring the floor 5fon the pillars 2 by welding latches 25 to the carrying collars 6 of saidfloor, the ratchet devices 12 are removed and all tubes 9, 10, ha andltla are removed. The presses 26 can then also be withdrawn from theirfoundation cavities and the building is ready for the erec tion of theremaining structural elements such as walls,

partitions and the like.

- It is understood that the lifting operation described can be carriedout with any number of floors greater or.

By subdividing the tubes ing the auxiliary tube sections 5a and 16a) issuitably V eifected by means of pulley blocks.

In contradistinction to the example previously described, in themodification shown in FIGURE 17, the ratchet devices 12 need not bechanged from the top side to the bottom side of the elements of thefloor 'unit stack (and vice versa), but can permanently remain upon thetubes 9, 10 above the entire stack of floor units. In this case thereare provided bolts 18 of suitable'length having removable extensionswhich serve as guide members. A frame 27, which is temporarily fixed tothe pillars 2 at a suitable level, is provided, in order to laterallyguide the bolts 18 (or the extensions thereof) frequently projecting farbeyond the ratchet devices. The arrangement of the lifting presses 20,or of the hose connections for pressure oil, correspond in' this exampleto the arrangement according to FIGURE 14. When raising the floors Sa-Sffrom their starting position (FIGURE 17), the bolts 18, analogous totheprocedure followed in FIGURE 1011, are engaged in the collar 6 havingtwo series of cams equally spaced longitudinally, along the respectivesurfaces thereof, the cams of respective series extending laterally indiametrically opposite directions from: the associated tubes; ratchetmeans associated with said tubes and including oppositely directed pawlsfor engaging with said oppositely directed cams; housing means forsupporting said ratchet means and pivotally mounting said pawls; studmeans, including flange means, carried by said housing means fortemporarily suspending said floors fromisaid flange means at a pointadjacent said openings thereof; and means for moving said lifting tubesin a direction along their longitudinal axes; said ratchet meansincluding means biasing said pawls to operatively engage the associatedcams upon downward relative movement of said housing means with respectto the associated tubes, while providing for said pawls toratchet oversaid cams upon upward relative movement of said housing means withrespect to the associated tubes; whereby, upon lifting of said liftingtubes, the housing means associated therewith will be ing an openingtherethrough, comprising: a pair of longitudinal tubes extending.through the opening, each tube having a plurality of pairs ofdiametrically oppositely l projecting cams longitudinally spaced alongthe surfaces of the ceiling 5d, whereupon the upper stack portion 5d,

5e and 5f is raised somewhat above the position of the first story(FIGURE 17) (17b) and temporarily supported there on'the pillars 2.Thereafter, the bolts 18 are reof the tubes, ratchet means encompassingeach said tube and including pawl means adapted for engagement with saidcams and means for supporting the weight of said load, the pawl meansbeing arranged as pairs of oppositely directed pawl means, means formoving one of said tubes in a direction along its longitudinal axis, andmeans biasing said pawl means to operatively engage the associated camsupon downward relative movement of the associated supporting meansrelative to the associated tubes, while providing for said pawl means toratchet over said cams upon upward relative movement of the associatedsupporting means with respect to the associated tubes; Whereby, uponlifting of said one tube, the supporting means associated therewith willbe lifted, with the supporting means and pawl means associated with theother tube moving upwardly along the latter; the pawl means associatedwith said other tube engaging the associated cams, uponsubsequentlowering of said one tube and its associated supporting means,to permit said one movable tube to be moved in a reverse and loweringdirection without moving the load, to permit said movable tube again tobe moved in said longitudinal lifting direction to further advance saidload.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said means for moving saidmovable tu'be isa hydraulically actuated ram.

4. Apparatus according to claim ,1, wherein each ratchet means comprisesa plurality of superposed pairs of pawls, each pair adapted to cooperatewith the two series of cams of the supporting and lifting tubes, saidpawls being weighted to urge the pawls into engagement with the cams ofsaid tubes.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the spacing of the superposedpawls and said cams are such that the spacing between said pawls issmaller than the spacing between said cams, so that only one pair ofpawls is in engagement with a pair of cams at one time.

6. Apparatus for raising each floor of a plurality of floors, whereineach floor includes openings therethrough and said openings are eachencompassed by a collar, to a different level for support on a pluralityof longitudinal pillars, each pillar extending through an opening ineach floor; said apparatus comprising: a plurality of stationarylongitudinal tubes and a plurality of longitudinal movable tubes,certain pillars of said plurality of pillars each having a stationarytube and a movable tube associated therewith, each of said certainpillars being situated between its associated stationary and movabletubes, the longitudinal axes of each pillar and its associated tubes 7extending in parallel relationship through an opening in each floor,each stationary tube and movable tube having two series of cams spacedlongitudinally therealong, the cams of respective series extendinglaterally in diametrically opposite directions from the associated tube;ratchet means including a plurality of oppositely directed pawls adaptedfor engaging said oppositely directed cams, one pair of oppositelydirected pawls engaging a pair of oppositely directed cams at any onetime; a housing means supporting said pawl means; stud means carried bysaid housing means and engaging said collar means for supporting saidplurality of floors; and fluid-pressure supplying means including afluid pressure operated ram for moving said movable tube in a directionalong its longitudinal axis; said pawls operatively engaging theassociated cams upon downward relative movement of the associatedhousing means with respect to the associated tubes, while ratchetingover said cams upon upward relative movement of said housing means withrespect to the associated tubes; whereby, upon lifting of said movabletubes, the housing means associated therewith will be lifted, with thehousing means associated with the stationary tubes moving upwardly alongthe latter; the pawls of the housing means associated with thestationary tubes engaging the associated cams, upon subsequent loweringof the movable tubes, to'cause the cooperating cam and pawl andstud'means to advance and support said plurality of floors.

' 7. Apparatus according to claim 6, wherein each said pawl includes a.weight which urges said pawls into engagement with a cam-on said tubes.

8. Equipment for erecting a multistoried building having a plurality offloor units, each including openings therethroughand collar meansencompassing each open- 7 ing, to be supported on substantially Verticalpillars which vertically equidistantly spaced cams projecting from thetube surface, the two series on each tube projecting laterally indiametrically opposed directions from the associated tube, respectiveratchet means operably associated with each tube and each including atleast one pair of oppositely directed pawls, each cooperable with camsof a respective one of the two series thereof on the associated tube;each ratchet means including a box pivotally mounting said pawls, saidpawls being biased to engage the associated cams upon relative downwardmovement of the associated box along the associated tube and ratchetingover the associated cams upon'relative upward movement of the associatedbox along the associated tube, means carried by said box for temporarilysupporting the floor units to be raised to story levels, and a pressurefluid operated lifting press interposed between the lower end of eachlifting tube and said foundation and effective to raise said liftingtubes to cause the ratchet means associated therewith to' lift the floorunits supported thereby, the oppositely directed cams of each tube inassociation with-the oppositely directed pawls of the respective ratchetmeans assuring transmission of downwardly directed forces axially of theassociated tubes to inhibit buckling of the associated tubes due tooff-center forces; whereby, upon lifting of said lifting tubes, theboxes associated therewith will be lifted, with the (boxes associatedwith the stationary tubes moving upwardly along the latter; the pawls ofthe boxes associated with the stationary tubes engaging the associatedcams, upon subsequent lowering of the lifting tubes, to temporarilysupport the lifted floor units during such subsequent lowering ofthelifting tubes prior to a subsequent lifting of the floor units.

9 Equipment according to claim 8, in which said lifting presses eachcomprise an upper connection for pressure fluid, communicating with thepress through the. associated lifting tube, and a lateral selectivelyusable pressure fluid connection.

10. Equipment according to claim 8, in which the lifting and supportingtubes are each comprised of a plurality of detachable tube sections ofsubstantially equal length, the length of each'tube section being lessthan the distance between stories by an amount suflicient to provide thedisengagement of .a ratchet means from a first tube section after asecond tube section, extending upwardly from such first tube section,has been disconnected therefrom. V

11. Equipment according to claim 8, in which each ratchet meanscomprises two groups ofsuperposed pawls, adapted each to cooperate witha cam row of the supporting and lifting tubes, said pawls being arrangedas pairs of oppositely directed pawls, said pawls being pivotallymounted in said ratchet box and each provided with a weighted leverwhich urges the pawls in the directionof engagement with the cams of thesupporting and lifting tubes, the mutual spacing of the pivotal axes ofthe pawls of each group being smaller than the mutual spacing of thecams, so that at any time only one pair of pawls is in engagement with apair of cams.

12. Equipment according to claim 10 including auxiliary tube sections,having substantially uninterrupted outer surfaces, arranged forinterconnection with said lifting and supporting tube sections forupward extension of the lifting and supporting tube sections for upwardextension of the lifting and supporting tubes.

13'. Equipment according to claim 8, including means for temporarilysupporting said floor units on said pillars; said last-named meanscomprising latching elements engageable with each pillar and bolt meansfor securing 9 10 said latching elements to the pillar with saidlatching 2,852,931 9/58 Bonet 50-534 elements engaging said collars tosupport the associated 2,919,896 1/60 Wurst 254-105 floor unit.3,028,143 4/62 'Cheskin 254--105 3,036,816 5/62 Stwbbs et a1 254-89References Cited by the Examiner 5 3,053,015 9/62 Graham 254-89 UNITEDSTATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS ,5 51 L F i l 254105 7 3,915 10 57 GreatBritain, 2,680,633 6/54 Brown 5080 2 7 5 0 3 55 FELDMAN, PrimaryExammer. 2,753,711 7/.56

Weber s0 -s34 HENRY c. SUTHERLAND, Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR RAISING EACH FLOOR OF A STACK OF FLOORS, EACH FLOORINCLUDING OPENINGS THERETHROUGH, TO A DIFFERENT LEVEL FOR SUPPORT ON APLURALITY OF LONGITUDINAL PILLARS, EACH PILLAR EXTENDING THROUGH ANOPENING IN EACH FLOOR; SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING: A PLURALITY OFSTATIONARY LONGITUDINAL TUBES; A LIKE PLURALITY OF LONGITUDINAL MOVABLETUBES, CERTAIN PILLARS OF SAID PLURALITY OF PILLARS EACH HAVING ASTATIONARY TUBE AND A MOVABLE TUBE ASSOCIATED THEREWITH, EACH OF SAIDCERTAIN PILLARS BEING SITUATED INTERMEDIATE ITS ASSOCIATED STATIONARYAND MOVABLE TUBES, THE LONGITUDINAL AXES OF THE PILLAR AND ITSASSOCIATED TUBES EXTENDING IN A PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP THROUGH AN OPENINGIN EACH FLOOR, EACH STATIONARY TUBE AND EACH MOVABLE TUBE HAVING TWOSERIES OF CAMS EQUALLY SPACED LONGITUDINALLY ALONG THE RESPECTIVESURFACES THEREOF, THE CAMS OF RESPECTIVE SERIES EXTENDING LATERALLY INDIAMETRICALLY OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS FROM THE ASSOCIATED TUBES; RATCHETMEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID TUBES AND INCLUDING OPPOSITELY DIRECTED PAWLSFOR ENGAGING WITH OPPOSITELY DIRECTED CAMS; HOUSING MEANS FOR SUPPORTINGSAID RATCHET MEANS AND PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID PAWLS; STUD MEANS,INCLUDING FLANGE MEANS, CARRIED BY SAID HOUSING MEANS FOR TEMPORARILYSUSPENDING SAID FLOORS FROM SAID FLANGE MEANS AT A POINT ADJACENT SAIDOPENINGS THEREOF; AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID LIFTING TUBES IN A DIRECTIONALONG THEIR LONGITUDINAL AXES; SAID RATCHET MEANS INCLUDING MEANSBIASING SAID PAWLS TO OPERATIVELY ENGAGE THE ASSOCIATED CAMS UPONDOWNWARD RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID HOUSING MEANS WITH RESPECT TO THEASSOCIATED TUBES, WHILE PROVIDING FOR SAID PAWLS TO RATCHET OVER SAIDCAMS UPON UPWARD RELATIVE MOVEMENT OF SAID HOUSING MEANS WITH RESPECT TOTHE ASSOCIATED TUBES; WHEREBY, UPON LIFTING OF SAID LIFTING TUBES, THEHOUSING MEANS ASSOCIATED THEREWITH WILL BE LIFTED, WITH THE HOUSINGMEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STATIONARY TUBES MOVING UPWARDLY ALONG THELATTER; THE PAWLS OF THE HOUSING MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH THE STATIONARYTUBES ENGAGING THE ASSOCIATED CAMS, UPON SUBSEQUENTLY LOWERING OF THELIFTING TUBES, TO TEMPORARILY SUPPORT SAID FLOORS AT PREDETERMINEDLEVELS ALONG THE PILLARS.